Death sentence: The deadly jail beating of John Chamberlain

While inmates beat John Derek Chamberlain to death, the senior deputy at the minimum-security barracks sat in the guard station watching television.

Deputy Kevin Taylor and his two partners did not notice the melee that lasted at least 20 minutes Oct. 5 at Theo Lacy Facility.

The deputies' failure to prevent the torture and killing of a man thought by jail inmates to be a child molester is at the center of an ongoing criminal inquiry.

Six inmates have been charged with murder. The one thought to be the ringleader - a drug addict with a prison record - has told Orange County sheriff's detectives that Taylor instigated the attack. Taylor and other jailers deny the allegation, which is under investigation by county prosecutors. No sheriff's employees have been charged.

The Orange County Register has analyzed hundreds of pages of sheriff's investigative reports as well as dozens of crime scene photos and audiotapes of interviews. Also obtained by the Register was a video taken inside the guard station after the attack.

The investigative file shows that Taylor watched television on duty and that deputies added an entry to the jail log after the death to reflect that Taylor had shown concern for Chamberlain's safety. Moreover, the file shows the department tolerated a jail subculture in which inmates enforce their own laws and inflict punishment on one another.

There is also an allegation by at least one inmate that Taylor and his partners outed Chamberlain as a child molester, an erroneous label that led to his death.

Sheriff's officials would not say whether Taylor and the other jailers had been disciplined or whether watching television is still allowed in the guard station. They also would not say if it is customary to enter a log item hours after the fact.

But Assistant Sheriff Charles Walters, who is in charge of the jails, did say, "There is nothing that leads us to believe there was any wrongdoing by our staff."

The sheriff's investigation file, spanning 69 computer discs, tells the story of an inmate with a secret. It was a secret that got distorted and spread among the 146 inmates of Barracks F West, triggering the first Orange County jail homicide in 20 years.

The story begins with a 911 call on Sept. 14 from the parking lot of an Albertsons in Rancho Santa Margarita.

JUST RELAXING

After downing two beers, John Chamberlain, 41, couldn't hold it any longer. He was seen shortly before 5 p.m. urinating in the bushes outside the supermarket.

A responding deputy found Chamberlain inside his white Chevrolet Malibu. Next to him were two empty 24-ounce cans of Miller beer and two unopened cans. According to the police report, the computer technician said he lived across the street, sleeping on his boss's couch. He said he came to the parking lot "to relax."

The deputy searched the car and found 22 photos that police say Chamberlain admitted downloading from the Internet. The photos depicted what appeared to be children ages 6 to 10 engaged in sex acts with one another and with adults, the police report said.

In a later interview with investigators, Chamberlain's former girlfriend Dorothy Schell, 70, said she broke off their relationship because he was addicted to adult pornography.

Chamberlain was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of possessing child pornography and booked into Theo Lacy jail in Orange. He remained in custody after he couldn't find anyone to post a $2,500 bond.

In the jail, inmates told detectives, there is a moral code. Rapists, child molesters and sexual predators get "taxed" or "regulated," the inmates' version of bare-knuckle justice.

Chamberlain tried to keep his charges under wraps, reports say. He told inmates he was there for violating a restraining order, but they wanted proof and pushed him to produce his court papers.

A scared Chamberlain called his former girlfriend nightly, saying he was fearful for his life. He didn't know how long he could keep the inmates from finding out his secret.

Theo Lacy was built in 1960 in the hopes of relieving crowding in the sheriff's main jail. Chamberlain was in a minimum-security ward with inmates who were deemed nonviolent by sheriff's officials. Many were serving sentences for drug violations and burglary.

The day before Chamberlain's death, Schell left a voice mail for his lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Case Barnett. He got the message the next day, Oct. 5, and called the jail about 11 a.m., asking if Chamberlain should be moved.

CONFLICTING STORIES

The attorney's concerns were routed to Taylor, an eight-year sheriff's veteran with an additional five years under his belt with the Torrance Police Department.

Taylor, Deputy Jason Chapluk and Special Officer Phillip Le that day were in charge of F Barracks, a large, two-story concrete room lined with inmate cubicles and split into two sections, east and west. The enclosed guard station sits in the middle.

In three interviews with investigators, Taylor said he and Chapluk brought Chamberlain out of the barracks about 2:30 p.m. and asked him if he wanted to be moved. Taylor told detectives that Chamberlain declined, saying that he was not afraid because he had convinced inmates that his court papers would not be available for two weeks.

The discussion was corroborated in a separate interview with Chapluk. However, a videotape shows that the conversation was not logged into jail records until hours later, after the killing. Detectives keyed in on this fact while questioning the jailers.

In the hierarchy of the jail, each ethnic group has a leader or "shot caller."

In F West, the white shot caller was Jared Petrovich, a 23-year-old drug addict with a prison record and a chest full of tattoos.

Petrovich, one of the inmates accused in Chamberlain's death, was interviewed at least three times by sheriff's investigators. His story changed slightly in each interview, but one theme is consistent: Taylor fingered Chamberlain as a molester.

This is what Petrovich told detectives:

It was shortly before evening chow, about 4 p.m., when Petrovich's inmate assistant, called a "house mouse," told him that Taylor wanted to see the "white representative."

Petrovich said he met Taylor and Chapluk outside the rear barracks door. Taylor and Chapluk then talked to each other, loud enough for Petrovich to overhear: There was a child molester in Cubicle J, Bunk 7.

After the conversation, Petrovich told investigators, Taylor asked him if he understood the conversation he was allowed to overhear.

Petrovich's story changes in each interview. He initially tells detectives that Taylor did not order him directly or indirectly to harm Chamberlain. In a later interview, Petrovich says that Taylor promised him extra privileges if he "took care of the situation."

Attorney Paul Meyer, representing the deputies, said Petrovich's allegation has never been substantiated.

In interviews with sheriff's investigators, Taylor initially identified a photo of Petrovich as the white shot caller. But when shown the photo again, he said he couldn't identify Petrovich.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Murray, who is investigating whether to charge sheriff's employees in Chamberlain's death, would not comment on the specifics of the case.

Generally, if someone is accused of breaking a law, the accusation would have to be corroborated, Murray said. Prosecutors also consider the presence of physical evidence and the credibility of the accuser.

After dinner, Petrovich asked Chamberlain about his charges. Chamberlain stuck to his "restraining order" story. What he didn't know was that Petrovich had already started spreading the word among inmates that he was a child molester and was forming a plan to punish him.

"PLEASE STOP"

Deputies say they last saw Chamberlain alive at 6 p.m., after they opened the "day room," allowing inmates to leave their cubicles, take showers and watch television. That night the TV was tuned to Game 1 of the Dodgers-Mets playoff series.

Investigators would later interview all 146 inmates in Barracks F. According to investigators' summaries, this is the story the inmates told:

"House mice" Garret Aguilar and Stephen Carlstrom got Chamberlain from his upstairs cubicle and walked him down to Cube D, which is partially hidden from the guard station.

Aguilar allegedly had his arm casually draped around Chamberlain's shoulder. A letter confiscated from one of the suspects says inmates told Chamberlain he was being taken there to do push-ups. But once they arrived, according to reports, Chamberlain was shoved into the cubicle, and the punches started.

Chamberlain tried to defend himself but quickly fell to the concrete floor, curling into a ball.

"Stop, please, stop," he screamed.

The beating came in waves. As some inmates rested, others took their place. They stomped on his head, holding onto a bunk bed for leverage. One inmate punched Chamberlain so hard that he broke his hand. They used their tennis shoes as blackjacks. Somebody dumped scalding water onto Chamberlain's stripped-down body. Others spit and urinated on him, inserting plastic spoons into his rectum.

Chamberlain crawled beneath a bed for protection, but they pulled him out, yelling "baby raper." They told him that molested kids hurt just as much. At one point, the attackers huddled to discuss whether someone should rape Chamberlain. As they rested, some of the attackers shook hands with each other, the report said.

Inmates estimated that 12 to 20 people took part in the beating. The rest nervously watched the Dodgers or played dominoes, pingpong and cards. One inmate said the punches sounded like drums thumping.

But in their enclosed guard station, Taylor, Chapluk and Le didn't hear the beating.

Taylor told investigators he was sitting and watching TV, standing occasionally to scan the barracks.

Orange County sheriff's officials would not say if watching TV on duty is standard practice.

In Los Angeles County, jail deputies do not have televisions in their guard stations.

"They're supposed to be watching the inmates, not television," Los Angeles County Deputy Maribel Rizo said.

Chapluk, at least part of the time, was collecting court-ordered DNA swabs from inmates in another barracks, reports said.

At 6:30 p.m., Le wrote in the log that the barracks was secure.

It wasn't until 6:50 p.m. that Le noticed something amiss. Aguilar was standing on a table, facing the guard station, waving his arms to get their attention. Aguilar told deputies that there was a "man down" in Cube D.

They found Chamberlain on the floor, propped up against the wall, wearing only his boxers. An autopsy would show that he died from "multiple and severe blunt trauma." The cubicle had been doused with water brought by inmates from the shower in cups. The attackers had washed the blood from their shoes and clothes, forcing uninvolved inmates to also wet their shoes so the assailants would not stand out.

The inmates were ordered back into their doorless cubes.

Barracks F West, part of Orange County's largest jail, had become a crime scene. Sheriff's officials refused an offer from county prosecutors to take over the homicide investigation, electing to do it themselves.

As paramedics wheeled out Chamberlain, Taylor, Chapluk and Le paced inside the guard station. A video camera captured them repeatedly explaining how Chamberlain had declined to be moved. At one point, Taylor remembers that the conversation had not been entered into the log. Taylor directs Le to start typing.

"He felt safe," Taylor dictated.

Over and over, inmates told sheriff's detectives that no one meant to kill Chamberlain. It just "got out of hand." The defendants, once low-level criminals, now face murder charges, with their next court date set for April 13.

And deputies Taylor and Chapluk are waiting to hear from prosecutors if they will join the others accused in the killing of John Chamberlain.

"We take the safety and protection of the men and women in our custody very seriously," Assistant Sheriff Walters said through his media spokesman. "We will use every means at our disposal to bring justice to those who inflict violence within our jails.

"We stand by our record, and we stand by the professionalism of the men and women who operate our jails each and every day."

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